Lock-seaming is a precise and durable sheet metal joining technique widely applied in the manufacturing of containers, drums, ducts, and cylindrical structures. The process involves interlocking folded edges of metal sheets through a combination of mechanical deformation and pressure, creating a seam that ensures high structural integrity without the need for welding or adhesives. This method provides excellent resistance to leakage, vibration, and mechanical stress, making it ideal for applications requiring airtightness, watertightness, and long-term reliability. Its advantages include enhanced strength, cost-effectiveness, and suitability for mass production in industries such as home appliance washing machine drum mass production, and automotive manufacturing.

The prominent advantage of TIG welding lies in the balance between efficiency and cost. By matching the current with the torch moving speed, its welding speed can reach up to 4500mm/min, meeting medium to high production capacity requirements. Meanwhile, compared with the other two welding methods, the total investment in TIG welding equipment is the lowest, making it particularly suitable for cost-sensitive production lines.

The core advantages of plasma welding lie in arc stability and penetration. Its plasma arc is cylindrical with a diffusion angle of only about 5 degrees. Even if the arc length fluctuates, the heating area of the base material does not change significantly, and it is less sensitive to changes in working distance. Meanwhile, by optimizing process parameters, welds with uniform root penetration and smooth, neat surfaces can be achieved, with welding quality superior to TIG welding.

The biggest highlight of laser welding is "high efficiency + precision". Its welding speed can reach up to 5000mm/min, ranking first among the three technologies. More importantly, the laser beam energy is concentrated, which can minimize the heat input, resulting in an extremely small range of metallographic changes in the heat-affected zone and minimal deformation caused by heat conduction. This can maximize the dimensional accuracy and structural stability of the inner drum, with the optimal weld smoothness.

The core differences between the three welding technologies can be summarized as follows: In terms of efficiency, laser welding (5000mm/min) is slightly higher than TIG welding (4500mm/min), with plasma welding in the middle. In terms of precision and deformation, laser welding has the smallest heat-affected zone (approximately 1.5mm) and the lowest deformation, while TIG welding has the largest heat-affected zone (approximately 4.5mm) and the most significant deformation. In terms of cost, TIG welding has the lowest equipment investment, and laser welding has the highest. In terms of maintenance frequency, TIG welding requires the most frequent electrode grinding, followed by plasma welding, and laser welding has relatively low maintenance needs.